Shine
by rosenzakura
Summary: Mileina-centric. Post Season 2, Epi 25. Spoilers. When death finally rips away that naivete can hope still flourish? Standalone.


**A/N: **A really random thing that I don't know whether to make this into a multi-chaptered. It can stand-alone but I've been playing with an idea of a post-season 2 thing. Its Milenia-centric simply because I can't help but make too much of the last time they spoke and all that jazz. R&R will be appreciated!

**Disclaimer: **Original names, characters and places don't belong to me. I don't own anything except the general ridiculous plot-less plot and OC(s), if any. Yadablah.

**Shine**

死ね

Death.

Some called it the end. Others believed it to be the beginning of the end. Or maybe the beginning of something new. No one really knew.

She herself didn't believe in the afterlife. If there was a god or goddess or some supreme power in this world, one would have thought they'd have intervened in this mess by now.

But no, there was no such power which was why their lives had been dedicated to this.

Nearly everyone on the main crew had eyes stained by death as a result.

She had heard the stories, of course. Even though their identities were supposed to remain secret, when faced with the weight of the world, eventually they all needed some form of comfort.

Sumeragi had lost her significant other to conflict and miscommunications years ago. Setsuna had been a child soldier in the hopes of survival and witnessed the devastation of his homeland. Both Lockons had seen their families ripped from them for a cause that wasn't theirs but that of terrorists. The slightly schizophrenic Allelujah had seen the life taken away from innocent children in the name of research and murdered some with his own hands.

As for the rest of the crew... Whether they had lost anyone before their time of service, they had seen their friends die.

Feldt had lost her parents in the organization and still joined. It wasn't spelt out till recently that she liked the first Lockon but even she, the newest member, could tell. That particular death had left its mark on the whole crew. Up to that point, they hadn't lost anyone at all. It was also nicknamed "The First Time Tieria Showed Emotion" in more lighthearted moods. But yes, even the cold Innovade had been affected. And then, they had watched their then-pilot as well as the girl she had replaced die.

Whenever she saw the old crew photo, she felt inadequate. It wasn't that they treated her badly. In fact, they treated her like one of their own. But she knew she could never step into the shoes that Christina left behind. As far as story-telling went, she had been the one to force Feldt out of her shell and the two had been best friends. She couldn't live up to that. It wasn't that anyone expected her to, but it was daunting nonetheless.

She never bothered bringing up the topic, settling for keeping it to herself. She had her father with her, and a friendly enough workforce, it was enough for her.

Or so she thought.

Somehow that seemingly emotionally-stupid Innovade had seen how she felt and went out of his way to be kind to her. It was never explicit but comforting, anyway. A word here, a gesture there. It was comforting to know that at least in this, she was glad not to be her predecessor.

But with all things, something unexpected had to happen. She started falling into that quicksand that had taken Feldt and Anew, leaving one broken hearted and the other dead.

When she told him she expected to hear good news, she'd never expected this. Her tear-choked voice rang out in her silent soundproof room. "I wanted to hear it from you, damn it." She fell to her knees, crying tears that had been long restrained, hardly noticing when her locked door clicked open and she found herself crying into her crewmate's shoulder.

As her tears slowly subsided, so did the pinkette's need to remain silent. "Cherudim just returned with Seraphim. Arios is en route with Exia, Setsuna should make it."

"Seraphim..." She whispered, hoping what she knew as a blind hope, lifting her eyes to meet the other girl's.

Feldt shook her head reluctantly. "Seraphim was empty. He must have reclaimed Veda. We have to wait for Setsuna to know - he was the only one who went in."

At those words, there was a brief shine of hope that just maybe, Tieria was still in there. As Feldt left, she got up to wash up. Looking in the mirror, she saw her hope blossom timidly, shining behind eyes now tinted with death, just like the rest of them even as she silently sent a plead to whoever was listening.

_'Please, just be alright.'_

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**A/N: **On a side note, did anyone catch the play of words? Its between Jap and English. A hint: romanize the jap text (: R&R please! I'm not sure how good this one is. -iirse


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